Joe Girardi on Pettitte: "It's just who he is: When the stakes get higher, he gets better."

NEW YORK — The interesting part of this debate is that its subject is almost oblivious to it. Andy Pettitte pretends to be, anyway.

Maybe that changes in five years, when the chatter begins in earnest, when his advocates begin to curate his legacy, when a man nearing the midpoint of an extraordinary life ponders the mark he left on a sport that always inspires debate.

But for now, this is the company line, when you raise the subject of his Hall of Fame worthiness:

"I am very thankful that people will bring up my name in that conversation. I feel very fortunate to have the success that I’ve had, because I had so many great players around me," the Yankees’ meal ticket said during a heartfelt farewell address Friday.

"I mean, do I feel like I dominated this sport as a pitcher? No, I don’t. Every outing for me has felt like an absolute grind, to tell you the truth. When I look at lineups and teams I’m facing, it seems like every hitter is hitting .300 off me, you know?"

The humility bit is not an act, but sometimes it stretches the bounds of credibility — and he knew it, so the twangy line drew a laugh.

You know Pettitte as a fellow who is very comfortable with himself as a person, one who will never allow anyone or anything to define him. Put another way: Not once in the past 18 years did you worry that Andy Pettitte would turn into some gombeen shilling for Qualcomm.

It’s just that when we talk about qualifications for Cooperstown, it should go beyond numbers in some cases, even though every voter loves to share his template for dominance. For us, what Pettitte represents in today’s currency is gravitas, given the state of sports nowadays. Too often they overpay and overrate ability, just as they underpay and underappreciate capability. Pettitte has the latter, and he’s had it for nearly two decades.

If your opinion differs, have at it. If you bring up the fact that his 3.86 ERA would be the highest of any guy in Cooperstown, it’s valid. If you say the drug issue can’t be discounted, the HGH did indeed save his career from a dead elbow, but by then he had already helped his team win four World Series and six pennants.

If you say he was never dominant, we suggest you narrow your definition. Strikeouts? He’s the all-time leader on this team. Being a No. 1 guy? That’s arbitrary, and besides, there is always room for Drysdales in the Hall. Besides, you could never tell this was a No. 2 guy by the way he pitched in postseason, where he holds the record for victories.

Joe Girardi on Pettitte: "It’s just who he is: When the stakes get higher, he gets better."

That’s how we choose to define dominance: the ability to win big games. Yes, in large measure he was a B-plus guy, and eminently reliable, but he became an A-plus when he absolutely had to be. When the weather cooled, he wanted the ball — and this desire was something marrow-deep.

"When I was here, I was all in," Pettitte said. "But when I think of dominance, our closer is what I think of — him, Jete. For me, (Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter) are first-ballot Hall of Famers, and they make the game look easy. And it ain’t easy."

He’s right, of course. But you might have noticed that at the age of 41, at a time when nobody seems sure what this team is playing for, he has pitched to a 2.02 ERA in his past eight starts. He never asked for it to be easy, either.

"Vintage Andy Pettitte," Joe Girardi calls it. "Crunch time, he’s always there for you. Look at his postseason run — go back to 2009, he was the winner in every final game of each series. It’s just who he is: When the stakes get higher, he gets better."

And now, off he goes.

Jeter is the last of the Core Four standing. The Captain was asked about that, and he figures there won’t be a quartet like this again, because "it’s difficult for one guy to stay on a team for that period of time, let alone four."

Now comes the hard part: dealing with the graduation losses. When Jeter is asked about the future of the organization, he can only shrug, which is no source of comfort.

"You hope they have a lot of young players who can contribute," said the Last Icon Standing. "I don’t know if it will be to the extent that we have — what I mean by that is the time frame. But you always need to have an influx of young players, that’s how we were successful."

Maybe there is another superstar shortstop and All-Star catcher in this team’s future. Maybe there is even a closer who can give you 40-45 saves every year.

But if Jeter thinks there is another left-handed starter who can win 255 games — plus 19 more in the postseason — coming through the pipeline anytime soon, somehow we find that laughable.

Because guys like that just aren’t common. Guys like that deserve enshrinement. Somewhere.